Remember the 90′s? Remember laughter? I was 11 years old in 1995, with less than none of the world sense and street smartz I possess today. I was preadolescent drunk (translation: pretending to be buzzed after a single Mike’s Hard Lemonade) on the notions of blatant carelessness, blatant recklessness, and blatant disregard. In short, I had no clue, which is no excuse for, but probably part of the reason why, I asked for a Carolina Panthers Starter jacket for Christmas that year. To give you idea of what this puffy monstrosity looked like, the answer is none more blue.

’95 was of course Carolina’s expansion year. Good ole’ Dom Capers was the skipper. They had just drafted a promising rookie/ stud drunk QB Kerry Collins to command the helm, and the future never looked so bright.

As we all know, the team has floundered – not unlike the Starter jacket fad, which gave way (at least in the Northeast) to the psuedo-hipppie Northface yupper fleece. Fun fact: Jake Delhomme wears these, always has. Collins exclusively wears lined flannel, and beat up 11-year old kids in the 90′s who had the Chicago Bulls Starter pullover. Trendy little twerps got what was coming to them (He was like 23 at the time too).

But I digress. This week, we’re polling the sports blog intelligentsia to share their own engaging anecdotes about Starter jackets. I’m sure there’s at least one good tale of a kid getting faced that’s tied to the outerwear that defined an era of sport.

Email me your submissions here. And if you need to bone up on your history, check out this post on Barstool Sports, where they break down the three types of Starter jacket wearers (I guess this makes me a Color-Me Bad Trend Starter? – goddamit)

As per usual, will post the best of the best Friday in the A.M.

The people have spoken, and an overwhelming majority (45%) believe that Johnny Depp would be best served portraying Al Davis if he chose to delve into the sports biopic genre of cinema. (good call by Isaac on the submission)

Goodman as Madden. The dude whose playing Biggie Smalls in Notorious as Art Shell. Let’s get this thing greenlit!

Feel free to make other casting suggestions in the comments. Thanks to everyone who submitted and voted in the poll, be on the lookout for another on Friday!

Hollywood’s Top Up and Coming Actresses (Gunaxin)
If Sports Blogs were Chicks… (The Sports Dollar)
Holtz Quits ESPN, Replaces Col. Klink at Stalag 13 (Moondog Sports)
The Roots To Be Jimmy Fallon’s Band; We Are Old And Sad (via Pop Candy)
Obama Declares War on the BCS (Intentional Foul)

I’d put Johnny Depp in the top-10 actors of his generation. The guy has come a long way from playing Officer Tom Hanson on 21 Jump Street (that dangling earring. regrettable for Depp, I’m sure), and has shown versatility and longevity on the silver screen. However, when it comes to playing crazy people, Depp is in a class unto himself. Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, Ichabod Crane, Ed Wood, Ed Scissorhands – all certifiable. You give him a character with any sort of twitch, and Depp will give a smashing performance. Looking back, he’s been a rum swigging swashbuckler, a opium induced inspector (don’t see From Hell if you can help it), a slasher barber – it makes me wonder, why should sports star be the exception?

Hence, that is why I posed the question to sports blog intelligentsia: Which Athlete Should Johnny Depp Play in a Movie?

The creme appears below, with a poll daddy guy at the bottom for you to cast a vote. Anyone interested in participating in one of my weekly polling exercise, email me here.

My personal submission for this: McEnroe. The film will span Johnny Mac’s entire career, and then some – ending with that awkward hug he gave Federer after he lost Wimbledon last year. Federer will be played by the kid from that Twilight thing or somebody, BUT, more importantly Rafa will be played by Benicio, and the deleted scenes will include Depp and him driving through the desert in a ballbuster on the way to Vegas, hyped on mescaline.

…And just because they already made that movie, doesn’t mean we can’t do it again, because McEnroe actually did stuff like this. Now he just makes totally ridiculous commercials…

Here’s the best of the rest…

(more…)

Johnny Depp has made a decent living (a killing, in fact) playing crazy folk. From Edward Scissorhands to Ichabod Crane. Hunter S. Thompson to Jack Sparrow . Willy Wonka, Sweeney Todd, Ed Wood. He’s even currently shooting to be The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. You reveal the slightest inkling of idiosyncracy, and Depp hits it out of the park.

When we’re talking about nutty characters, sports personalities are far from the exemption. With that said,

WHICH ATHLETE’S BIOPIC WOULD YOU LIKE JOHNNY DEPP TO STAR IN?

Email me your suggestions, and feel free to elaborate in length. All content will be posted with links on Friday morning.

For my next birthday, all I want is 15 seconds of footage of myself getting the Gatorade shower filmed using the super slow-mo.

Presumably, sometime in the next few days there will be a big bruhaha for the Celtics at Fenway Park.

I put it to you, who will get to throw out the first pitch?

Please find the poll on the side underneath my mug. I’ve nominated the big three, the skip, and the man I believe will have the most free time on his hands.

Now that this NBA business is done with, we can move on to other sports happenings. Like Ana Ivanovic being a babe and being ranked number one at Wimbledon.